


Alexa play Juicy by The Notorious B.I.G.

by tmh98



Category: The Wilds (TV 2020)
Genre: 1x06, Angst, Flashbacks, Friendship, Hurt/Comfort, Martha Blackburn - Freeform, Toni Shalifoe - Freeform, Toni and Martha deserve the world, added scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-12
Updated: 2021-01-12
Packaged: 2021-03-16 11:40:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,290
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28706052
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tmh98/pseuds/tmh98
Summary: With Toni sick and Martha not sure if she'll pull through, Martha can't help but think back to how she and Toni first met
Relationships: Martha Blackburn & Toni Shalifoe
Comments: 3
Kudos: 46





	Alexa play Juicy by The Notorious B.I.G.

**Author's Note:**

> We think the world needs more of Toni and Martha and wanted to provide. They deserve the world and Martha is 100% alive.

Even though she tried not to, Martha did feel bad about what she said to Toni. It’s not that she didn’t mean it… she just didn’t mean to hurt her that bad. She only wanted to stand up for herself. People were always telling her to do that. Toni was always telling her to do that. And so, she told Toni what she’s been holding in too long, what she wants to say every time Toni’s aggression gets the best of her, every time Martha inevitably gets caught in the crossfire. She told Toni what, looking back at it now - with Toni lying unconscious in her lap - she regrets most in her life. Because Toni is her favorite person in the world, the person who’s been by her side for as long as she can remember, her person. And, just when it seemed like they beat the odds by surviving the worst of it, her harsh words could be the last Toni ever hears from her. And Martha is determined to not let that happen. Those being the last words, and Toni leaving her.

  
Toni groans softly, her eyes still closed, but Martha knows she’s slightly conscious now. She reaches down to grasp her best friend’s hand, giving it a gentle squeeze. Toni, with all the strength she can muster, squeezes back. Martha hasn’t felt this sick in a long time, but she’s too focused on Toni to pay any attention to herself. She knows she should be taking care of herself, but if she did, who would take care of Toni? Martha assumes the others would, but Toni wouldn’t want that. Growing up in the system, Toni doesn’t like to rely on people, and Martha took it upon herself years ago to be the one person in the world Toni can always rely on. And she’s going to do that, no matter how she’s feeling herself, no matter what their last conversation was, no matter what.

  
Martha soothingly runs her free hand through Toni’s hair, wet with sweat. “You’re gonna be okay, Toni,” She reassures her. Toni just squeezes her hand again. And yeah, maybe Martha was saying that to reassure herself, too. Because Martha doesn’t know what she would do without Toni in her life. Ever since they met, Toni has been there to make her smile, to protect her, to make her feel loved. “Hey, Toni,” Martha says softly, struck with inspiration at the thought. “Remember the day we met?”

First day of fourth grade

Martha was nervous. She was also in pain. Neither of these things made entering the school easy. She could feel the brace squeezing extra hard almost as if to say Don’t forget about me! I’m here now too. She finally took a deep breath, or as deep as she could with this thing in the way, and pushed at the door, but it seems like the universe is not on her side today, it doesn’t budge. She tries again, but to no avail. It’s too heavy for what little strength she’s been able to regain. Martha can feel eyes on her from all sides. She glances at the handicap button next to the door and presses it quickly. She hears some giggles but tries to brush them off. Maybe they’re laughing at something else. She hopes.

  
Martha walks through the door as quickly as she can, her head down. She slowly makes her way down the hall to her locker, feeling every eye on her, every hushed whisper no doubt about her, too. She blocks it out as much as she can, like her mom told her to do. She gives them the benefit of the doubt. Maybe they’re talking about how worried they were for her. How glad they are she’s back. She knows if she saw someone in her situation she would want to make sure they were okay. She puts her things in her locker and tries not to think about how she hadn’t seen these people since before her accident back in May.

  
A little ways away from her she hears a locker slam and it makes her jump slightly. She gently turns her head and sees a girl she doesn’t recognize with a brown jacket about three sizes too big for her wrapped around her shoulders. She’s scowling at her locker like it had personally offended her. The girl’s eyes snap up to Martha’s and she looks away before starting down the hallway and entering her new classroom. Martha has just barely crossed the doorway when she gets a whiff of something that smells like dirt. She looks up to see a woman stepping in front of her, gray hair piled on her head, glasses perched on her nose.

  
“Hi dear, you must be Martha. Your mom called to make sure I knew what was going on. I’m Ms. Burgum.” The woman smiles at Martha and Martha tries to smile back. She doesn’t like being rude, even if she isn’t in the mood to be happy. She briefly notices the girl from before slip past her and find her desk.

  
“Let me know if there is anything I can do that will make your days easier. I’ve been told that you’ll occasionally have to leave early for physical therapy and that won’t be a problem,” Ms. Burgum continues. Martha nods, but she doesn’t smile this time. She’s too caught up in trying not to take breaths that are too deep or notice the classroom slowly filling up. She can feel the eyes on her every time someone passes by her. She knows what it’s like to have people watching her because of all her dancing, but this is the type of attention she doesn’t really want.

  
“You’ll be sitting the desk right here where you can have easy access if you need to leave,” Ms. Burgum points at the desk closest to the door, right next to the still scowling girl. Now the frown is turned downwards to her desk though. Martha studies the girl for a second and wonders if it’s not necessarily anger, but actually hurt and sadness. Martha knows she has certainly been feeling a lot of that recently. She slowly makes her way to the desk her teacher had pointed at and watches as the girl wraps her too large coat around her tighter.

  
Martha gently sits herself down at her desk. A whimper escapes her mouth without her meaning to. She had been so preoccupied with her thoughts that she let herself forget that she was still hurting. She notices the girl next to her glance at her briefly, something like concern flashing across her face for just a moment, but she says nothing and quickly turns her face back down to her desk. Martha looks around the classroom and sees that almost all the desks are filled now and most of her classmates send her a look before sitting down. She almost feels like she’s at the zoo but this time SHE’S on the inside of the glass. She decides then and there that maybe she won’t go on the next field trip to the zoo. As much as she loves animals, they don’t deserve that torture. Ms. Burgum finally closes the door to the classroom and goes to the front of the room.

  
“As many of you have already heard, I’m Ms. Burgum and I’m so excited to meet all of you.” Ms. Burgum starts. Martha knows that she continues talking but she can’t help but zone out and glance around the room. She’s still feeling slightly paranoid that everyone is staring at her and whispering about her. She notices the girl next to her doodling something small on her desk. She thinks it looks kind of like a cartoon of their teacher. She can’t help but giggle slightly. The girl next to her snaps her head up to look at Martha. At first she looks like she might snap at her until she realizes where Martha is looking and sends Martha a small, no teeth smile herself.

  
“Something to share, ladies?” Ms. Burgum’s voice interrupts their innocent moment. Martha can almost see when the wall builds back up over the girl’s eyes and she scowls at the teacher. She feels herself blush at being scolded but can’t help not feeling too guilty.

  
“Sorry, Ms. Burgum,” Martha apologizes. She doesn’t want to make a bad impression on the first day of school. She definitely doesn’t want to draw even more attention to herself.

  
“It was my fault. I distracted her,” She hears the girl next to her say. It’s the first time she’s heard the girl speak. Martha stares at her and wonders why she’d lie for Martha’s sake. She doesn’t even know the girl. Ms. Burgum stares at the girls for a moment longer then nods her head as if to say I guess that’s good enough.

  
“Just try to pay attention next time please.” Ms. Burgum goes back to her explanation. Martha is embarrassed by how quickly she tunes her out again. Martha doesn’t try to interact with the girl next to her again and vice versa.

  
Time seems to be moving far too slowly in class but finally it’s time for recess. Martha slowly slides out of her chair and makes her way outside with the rest of her class. She sees the girl who sits next to her leave behind her. Martha slowly makes her way over to one of the benches on the outskirts of the playground. She can’t help but be a little envious of all the kids running around and laughing with each other. She already had had a hard enough time making friends before the accident. This surely didn’t help. Martha is staring down at her feet when a shadow comes over her. She looks up and sees James, one of the boys in her class, standing in front of her. James is known for being a class clown but that doesn’t stop Martha, and almost every other girl in her grade, from thinking he’s cute. Some of his friends are loitering behind him and Martha already has a feeling what’s about to happen isn’t going to be good.

  
“Hey Martha. We were just over there playing a little game and I thought I’d come over and see if you wanted to…. Oh wait. I was gonna see if you wanted to play but since you can barely walk I guess I’ll have to find someone else.” James looks back at his pack of clones and they all break out into laughter. Martha can already feel tears coming to her eyes so she quickly looks back down at her legs. Stupid legs, Stupid Martha. She sees a flash of brown before someone is suddenly in between her and James, pushing James away.

  
“Hey fucker, leave her alone” Martha looks up and sees the girl from her class acting as a protector from her classmates. James has a shocked look on his face before he recovers with “You can’t say things like that,”. The girl laughs but it’s hollow and clearly not for anything good.

  
“And you shouldn’t be assholes to other people, but clearly that doesn’t stop you.” The girl is glaring holes into James’ face and then quickly turns her stare to the group behind him.  
“None of you are any better either,” She spits. The group all seems to at least have the decency to look a little ashamed but mostly they look a little scared.

  
“Whatever. This isn’t worth it,” James waves them off before stomping away. His goons all follow after him. Once they all have walked away the girl finally relaxes and turns around to look at Martha. Martha still has a few tears on her face but mostly she was shocked out of crying.

  
“Are you okay?” The girl asks in a surprisingly soft voice. Martha nods but can’t seem to say anything just yet. “Those guys are assholes. Don’t pay any attention to them okay?” The girl continues before sitting next to Martha on the bench. “Their game was probably dumb anways.” The girl glares in their direction again.

  
“Thank you,” Martha finally manages in a soft voice. She’s never been too good at meeting other people. The girl turns back to her and gives her a smile, this time with teeth. Martha thinks she looks better that way.

  
“No problem. I’m Toni by the way,” The girl shares. Toni, Martha thinks, what a great name.

  
“I’m Martha,” Martha responds, glad that she can finally put a name to a face. Toni and Martha. Martha and Toni. They sound like they could be great friends. Martha thinks to herself. Maybe fourth grade won’t be so bad.

Present

Martha is brought out of her memory by Toni coughing in her lap. She looks even worse than when she first had started talking. Martha can feel tears pushing at her eyes, the panic rising in her at the thought of losing her best friend.

  
“You’ve protected me since the day we met. I couldn’t imagine my life without you there. So you’re gonna be okay, Toni. You hear me? You have to be okay.” Toni groans in her lap. Martha needs a way to distract her.

  
“We used to fuss when the landlord dissed us. No heat, wonder why Christmas missed us. Birthdays was the worst days. Now we sip champagne when we thirsty,” Martha sees Dot stumble over to them. She watches as Dot checks Toni’s pulse and watches as her face falls.

  
“Where the fuck is Leah?” Dot questions looking behind her. Martha can only look back down at Toni and feel helplessness creep in.


End file.
